DUNCAN FERGUSON
PRODUCTION & OPERATIONS
DUNCAN FERGUSON
TITLE: VICE PRESIDENT, COMMERCIAL & INDUSTRIAL PRINTING
COMPANY: EPSON UK & EUROPE INDUSTRY: TECHNOLOGY
Duncan Ferguson, Vice President of Commercial & Industrial Printing at Epson UK & Europe, joined in 2003 after roles at Shell and Kodak. He holds a Chemistry degree from Durham University.
Duncan Ferguson, Vice President of Commercial & Industrial Printing at Epson UK & Europe’ s career trajectory, seemed almost destined to end up working with digital printing technologies.
As a chemist for Shell, he worked to sell industrial solvents to ink manufacturers. Later, working for Kodak in the photographic industry, he was introduced to inkjet at the inception of the industry almost 30 years ago.
“ When I joined Epson, we weren’ t doing any textile printing,” Duncan explains.“ So I’ ve witnessed the growth of digital textile printing in Epson, which I’ m very pleased about.”
Epson is the king of Kaizen – the lean manufacturing approach focused on continuous improvement. But Duncan says taking a lean production approach is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to improving the textiles industry.
“ You need to actually innovate with technology; you need to be able to deliver messages to the consumer,” he explains.
“ This has to happen if we are going to tackle the very big issues in terms of sustainability in textiles.”
One of Epson’ s flagship innovations is its digital textile printing( DTP) technologies. At the launch of Epson UK’ s Textile Innovation Centre in the UK, Manufacturing Digital learned about DTP’ s diversity of printing and business applications and how inkjet technology provides a sustainable and flexible alternative to traditional printing.
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